Textbook of Ayurveda, Vol. 1: Fundamental Principles of Ayurveda

Destined to become the definitive English-language textbook of ayurveda Dr. Vasant Lad is a world-renowned ayurvedic physician, born and educated in India, with more than forty years of clinical experience. He is one of the world's leading teachers and scholars of ayurveda, and served as professor of clinical medicine at the University of Pune College of Ayurvedic Medicine & Surgery as well as director of its affiliated hospital. Currently, he is president of and a senior faculty member at the Ayurvedic Institute, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Vasant Lad is the author of several professional texts and popular works on ayurveda and has written countless articles on the subject. There have been many textbooks published for intending practitioners of ayurveda, but until now nearly all of these have been in Sanskrit or more frequently Hindi or one of India's regional languages. Lacking facility in one or more of these, the English speaking student was left with one of two relatively time-consuming and unsatisfactory alternatives: consulting English-language translations of ayurveda's classics (i.e., the Sushruta and Charaka compendiums and the Astanga Hridaya, inter alia, a prospect unwieldy to say the least given the host of ancient therapies no longer in existence in today's world and the often untranslatable proper names of conditions and medicines) or compiling and correlating information from popular works on the subject and online sources. Dr. Vasant Lad's "Textbook of Ayurveda: Fundamental Principles" has resolved this daunting task for the professional student of ayurveda and provided in one well-organized, well-written and very clear English-language volume all salient aspects of the philosophical and scientific foundation that ayurveda stands upon: from the metaphysical underpinnings to the foundations of ayurvedic anatomy and physiology. The book is arranged into ten sections covering, respectively the shad darshan (the metaphysical assumptions underlying ayurveda); the elements, gunas (qualities of matter) and the tridoshic theory; dosha subtypes and their locations and functions; agni (degistive processes) the sapta dhatus (seven tissue types); srotamsi (channels or meridians), ojas, tejas, and prana (subtle forms of the doshas), digestion and nutrition and swasthavritti (ayurvedic concepts of healthy lifestyles and regimens). The flow of instructional material in the book is superlatively well-organized, with the information provided in one section providing a knowledge base for the effective study of material provided in subsequent sections. With the coming of ayurveda to the West, there has emerged a great need for a foundation-level textbook that not only caters to Western learning styles but that also forges a link between ayurveda's conceptions of anatomy and physiology and those of Western biomedicine. It contains the necessary foundation for the understanding of a paradigm of health and disease far removed from the Western one, going far beyond the level of detail and sophistication than that encountered in works published for the interested lay public. The appearance of this valuable work by Dr. Lad is synchronous with the creation of more and higher quality, academically rigorous programs of instruction and training in ayurveda outside of the country of its birth. Dr. Lad has written what I believe will become the definitive textbook of ayurveda for English-speaking and reading students in the West, and is due an enormous debt of thanks by the ayurvedic profession and by the public in general. I heartily and unhesitatingly recommend this work as a necessity for all aspiring practitioners of ayurveda. It will also be of use to health professionals schooled in Western biomedical concepts who wish to achieve a degree of familiarity with ayurvedic concepts.

The book is part 1 of 3 in this large body of knowledge. What I like is there's just enough Sanskrit to keep the Vedas well connected to this material but in well put together content that builds your understanding as you read the book in English. What I liked the best was the margins with important call outs and diagrams that highlight the learning being taught here. Also the graphics really lend to understanding the topics being covered. For serious learning well communicated, this is a great book.

Great book for beginners. Very easy read for studying. This was the course content text for my beginning ayurveda class and i found it very helpful and enjoyable. Thank you for this book

Very intrigued by ayurvedic living. This book I'd great for whole family!

I bought this book for my class. it can be a bit dense but its new material and I dont know sanskrit so its all new learning for me. Good book to learn from for me Ayurvedic Anatomy class. finished the whole book in a few weeks will definitely use it as a resource or reference for future. Note if you want to learn Ayurveda you should learn the Sanskrit meaning as well. just like learning t be a MD you have to learn latin or greek.

This book is the most comprehensive book I have found on the the fundamentals of Ayurveda. I have read Prakrti by Dr. Robert Svoboda, and Ayurvedic Healing by Dr. David Frawley which were both quite good, but in terms of really getting into the heart of where Ayurveda comes from (history and its essence) and what it is, this book is superior. The other books try to be comprehensive without tons of detail. This book simply focuses on the foundations of Ayurveda, which if you don't have well understood will make it difficult to try to administer its practices. I have recommended this book now to everyone who as asked me where to start.

I purchased this book as part of an Ayurvedic health counselor course. I was very impressed by the book's organization and content. I especially liked how the author made a lot of connections to modern biology in order to prove Ayurveda's scientific accuracy. He had a lot of examples of explaining a certain disease/condition in terms of both schools of thought, which was excellent!

excellent text. very informative and though at times the language made some ections difficult, it does a good job of covering an important and difficult subject.

Es un libro para reforzar el estudio, a las personas interesadas en conocer Āyurveda, adaptado para su comprensión en occidente. Se requiere tener previo conocimiento o familiaridad del significado de conceptos de transliteración de los principales conceptos en sánscrito para facilitar la lectura de este texto de introducción a la Āyurveda volumen 1. El material es de alta calidad y es de pasta dura. (Importado desde USA).

とってもいい本です。この後２冊あるみたいですが全て読みたいと思っています。

Professionella och effektivt hantering från början till varen kom hem 🏠👍🙏

Beautifully written and explained

A very informative book on Aryuvedic principles and philosophy